Connect with your celestial guides

Join Mary O’Shannon of Spiritsong as she shares how to tap into the beneficial energies of the planets during “Connecting with Your Celestial Guides: Your Allies in These Times of Change!” at 6:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 13, at The Creative Thought Center in Waynesville.

Spiritsong is an intuitive astrologer, healing facilitator, musician and metaphysical minister living in Asheville.

Join Spiritsong for a fun and interactive evening, filled with a lot of spirit and a bit of song.

Bring your individual natal chart or email Mary your name and birth information to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ahead of time and she will bring a birth chart for you.

The program is part of the People of Wisdom series at The Creative Thought Center. A $10 love offering is suggested but no one will be turned away.

For reservations, 828.456.9697 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

The Naturalist's Corner

This year will mark the 117th annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count (CBC.) The CBC is the longest-lived and largest citizen-science project in the world.

The count began in 1900. It was the brainchild of Frank Chapman, one of the officers of the fledgling Audubon Society. Chapman created the “bird census” as an alternative to the traditional Christmas “side-hunt,” a contest where groups would shoulder their arms and hit the fields and/or woods — the team that came back with the greatest number of corpses would be declared the winner.